The Word

1 Corinthians 16:14

Do everything in love.

Philippians 4:6, 7

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

January 06, 2015

Today I read an article in the NY Times about resolutions. The author, Ruth Chang, suggests we stop making resolutions and start resolving to become the person we want to be. This fits very well with the Ten on Tuesday topic for today.

In 2015, I will work to become the person I want to be by...

Letting go of trying to be perfect: I don't intentionally try to be perfect because I know that's an unattainable goal, but in an effort to do the best job possible I spend a lot of time and effort getting things just right. I need that time for other things.

Spending more time with family: Last year I set the goal of having monthly dates with my husband and my daughter. That lasted for a while and I really enjoyed it.

Spending more time with my friends: I find myself feeling envious when I read Facebook posts where friends are getting together. As I've become busier, I've spent less time on relationships.

Spending more time with online friends: I do keep up with folks on Instagram and some on Twitter and Facebook, but I miss being in touch on blogs.

Taking more pictures: I think about taking pictures after something has ended. Like my family was here for Christmas/New Year's and I only have pictures of them right before they left.

Analyzing what gets in the way of being organized and fixing it: At church and at school I am told how organized I am. At home? Not so much. I want to find the things that get in the way of that. An example is our medical paperwork. I tend to save all that even when I don't need it. Do I really need the insurance statement that says they paid for another allergy shot? I don't think so. And it certainly doesn't need to pile up on the kitchen counter...

Continuing to knit for others and using my stash to do so: I do enjoy knitting for myself, but I enjoy knitting for others even more. I'm knitting for the people at Pine Ridge through the For the Children of Pine Ridge group on Ravelry. The people there lead hard lives and the suicide rate is three times higher than the average US rate. In fact, a couple of weeks ago a 7th grader from the school we're currently knitting for committed suicide.

Taking better care of myself: When I started teaching again in 2013, I didn't take the time to take care of myself. I put on more weight, didn't make doctor's appointments that I needed, etc. I started working on the appointments last year, but I still have more to go.

Improving my relationship with God: God is always there, but I'm not. My current Bible study book is called Discerning the Voice of God. It's reminding me to listen. Plus, I'd like to finish the chronological reading of the Bible that I started in December 2012. It was supposed to be a one year plan!

Spend less time volunteering: That sounds weird, doesn't it? When I took on the council president's role in 2013, I had to give some things up. I let go of a lot of the things I did with the contemporary band. But it all still takes too much time. I've been trying to do less with the council president role. Like I was trying to attend most church events - not anymore. I need to pare something else away to be able to have time for the other things on this list!

May 28, 2013

Today's post will not be a problem! We had a super busy weekend. It was so busy that we didn't even go to all the events to which we were invited.

1. Wedding - Our friends' daughter got married and the ceremony was lovely. I helped cut the cake and that went pretty well considering the cake had a ton of whipped cream icing and the cake itself was frozen.

2. Church - I went to church like usual yesterday, but this time I was in the pews instead of up front playing guitar. The college guitarists are back from school and they were playing. It felt very weird.

3. Worship planning meeting - After having lunch with Steve and a friend after church, I went to the monthly worship planning meeting. That's always very interesting and usually a lot of fun at the same time.

4. End of year music department party - The choir, bell choir and band got together for an end of the season party. The band plays all year long, but that didn't stop us from being at the party! :) While at the party, I played...

5. Cornhole - This is a fun game. I had heard of it, but hadn't played it before. I was very bad at first, but got better during the second game.

6. Ice cream social - Our neighbors have an ice cream social every Memorial Day. It's always a lot of fun and the weather was perfect this year.

7. Graduation party - We were invited to three parties, but only made it to one.

8. Throne painting - I'm creating a prop for Vacation Bible School. Probably more on this in a future post...

September 04, 2012

4. And soon we can start eating more "fall food" - more soup, stew, etc.

5. School starts... for some people. Some schools here have already been in for a month. But I still think of September as the month to go back to school.

6. The leaves are beginning to change.

7. The knitting gets even better!

8. It's okay to pull out my fall scented candles now. I have a hard time finding summer candles that aren't too flowery. There is never a problem with fall candles!

9. That football feeling... After I was out of college, I would get this "football feeling" on crisp Saturday mornings. It made me want to be back at the stadium at school, watching the game. (Speaking of football, did you watch the VT /GT game last night? The Jackets were sooo close to winning! It was definitely an exciting game.)

10. I can start to wear my fall/winter wardrobe again. It's much better than my spring/summer wardrobe because it includes shawls and scarves! :)

June 12, 2012

What a coincidence! I bought strawberries to have for dessert tonight. Here are some ways I enjoy eating strawberries.

1. Fresh off the plant - So yummy. We used to have some strawberry plants and I miss them.

2. With lemon topping - This is my current favorite. For the topping, mix together a small container of Cool Whip and a small container of lemon yogurt. (I've been using Chobani brand.) This is also good over pound cake, but it's much healthier alone. Tonight I used fat free Cool Whip, but I don't recommend that.

3. Dipped in chocolate

4. Jam - My mom used to make freezer jam all the time and we would barely let it thaw before we dove into it.

January 24, 2012

Rebecca: We just finished reading this excellent book for book club and now I really want to watch the movie. There is another version and it might be fun to compare both movies.

Get Low: Our previous pastor helped write this movie. It's about his wife's great uncle (or some relation). They've been all over for film festivals for this film. How fun for them!

Ides of March: It was filmed at my alma mater, Miami University. Can't wait to see shots of the beautiful campus.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: This isn't out yet, but I want to see it when it does hit theatres.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again: I'll have to wait even longer for this one.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn 1: Emma is over the Twilight thing so we decided to wait to rent this. Guess we can see it now but we haven't gotten around to it yet.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2: I'll want to see this eventually, too. (I know that's not technically "right now" but there just aren't that many movies I want to see right now.)

Lord of the Rings 1, Lord of the Rings 2, Lord of the Rings 3: I've been wanting to have a marathon LotR viewing but nobody wants to join me. Guess I'll just have to make a date with myself to watch them.

I'll throw in an extra since some of my movies aren't out yet.

Pride and Prejudice: It's been a while since I've seen it. Time to fix that!

There you go! This was a hard list for me to complete because I don't see many movies and usually don't even know what's showing.

January 03, 2012

I feel like 2012 is a gift - all wrapped up like this pretty birthday present and we don't know what's inside. But we can set some goals for the new year and decide on a few things we'd like to do.

1. Organize the house - You've already read about this one. I may not get the house cleaned or complete projects like painting the bathroom, but I will get the clutter purged and under control.

2. Assist my daughter with graduation and college plans - Ooo, this will be a big part of 2012.

3. Figure out what I'd like my next career to be - I have more ideas now than I used to, but I'm still not exactly sure what to try next.

4. Learn to play the piano - I've wanted to learn to play the piano for as long as I can remember. Steve and Emma gave me a keyboard for Christmas so I pulled out my adult piano book and got started. Jingle Bells, When the Saints Go Marching In, different voices - lots of fun!

5. Get back to Jazzercise - Things got busy in the fall, then Advent and Christmas hit, then I was sick. If I can just make myself get there a few times in the next week, I can get back into the routine.

6. Get back to eating healthier - Too many sweets, too tight jeans...

7. Improve the garden - We need to amend the soil again and I'd like to start more things from seed this year.

8. Learn more about fitting hand knitted items - I've purchased the Fit Your Knits and Curvy Knits classes from Craftsy. I want to be more confident about this and I also want to be able to help my students.

9. Do more charity knitting - I feel so much better when I am knitting for others. I'd specifically like to knit more hats for the homeless.

10. 12 Shawls in 2012? - This one is still a big "maybe" for me. I can't decide if this is doable with my schedule or not.

11. Get together more often with my knitting friends - I'm including #11 since #10 is iffy. This year I have not hung out with my knitting buddies and I really feel out of touch. Time to fix that! And it's time to get back to keeping up with my virtual knitting friends, too!

What do you want to do in 2012? Stop in at Carole's to share your answers.